Volume II: Filmography

HARRY'S WATERLOO

a.k.a. THE PROTEAN PLAY

July 19, 1914 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel (816 feet)

Character: Comedy

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Harry Benham played nine parts, sometimes as many as four in a single scene, by the use of trick photography. His roles included: (Harry), (May, his sweetheart), (Pa, May's father), (Sherlock Sleuth)

Note: This film was apparently the production referred to in later years by Benham, who was especially proud of his multiple performances, as The Protean Play. See, for example, the Motion Picture News Studio Directory, 1916 and 1918 editions.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, July 25, 1914:

"A side-splitting comedy in which Harry Benham plays all the parts."

ADVERTISEMENT, Reel Life, July 25, 1914:

"A protean comedy of unique character in which Harry Benham plays the part of a lover, a sweetheart, a detective, and a father."

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, August 29, 1914:

"Harry Benham, in Harry's Waterloo, recently took all the scenes in the script, 13 in number, appearing as often as four times in scenes, impersonating the character of a woman in several of them. It is the first time a protean script of this magnitude was produced."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, July 18, 1914:

"In this photoplay Harry Benham plays four roles. When he commences his attentions to May, the young woman's father calls in Sherlock Sleuth to trail the young man. The sleuth after many humorous adventures discovers that Harry is a spendthrift and reports to May's father that the young man has had seven ice cream sodas in one day. May's father accepts this fact as the worst sort of evidence against a prospective son-in-law, and May reluctantly breaks her engagement. At the end of the photoplay Harry Benham is shown in a close-up as May. Then he bows to his audience, takes off his wig and appears as Harry. He then quickly adjusts side whiskers and becomes May's father and a moment later assumes the disguise of the sleuth, finally appearing as himself and laughing at the joke he has played on his audience."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, July 19, 1914:

"Harry Benham in a quadruple role. When Harry begins paying attention to May that young woman's father calls in Sherlock Sleuth. He reports that Harry is a spendthrift - he has had seven sodas in one day. Father makes Mary break her engagement."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 1, 1914:

"A picture in which the same player takes part of all the characters, and there are nine of them. This entails double exposures aplenty, and they are simply perfect. It is a tour de force for the cameraman rather than for the actor; for playing different roles is his business. An offering that will interest especially the spectator who realizes that the roles are played by the same man, and we think that most will. That some may not, is due to the actor (Harry Benham), who is competent."

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